Chapter 525: Heads Are for Thinking
Yi Mao and the others stared in astonishment at the words on the ground, finding it hard to believe for a moment. After a few seconds, Yue Weiping said, "I've heard that xenomorphs are good at imitating humans, but I didn't expect they could write..."
Xu Huo turned his head. "Heads are for thinking. He's not a xenomorph; he's a living person."
"My name is Jin Dong. I'm a soldier from the 803rd Cleanup Batch." The man continued writing on the ground.
"How is that possible!" Yue Weiping couldn't even bother to mind Xu Huo's sarcasm, exclaiming, "The 803rd Batch was completely wiped out a year ago. No one survived. And you're clearly a xenomorph!"
"I am human." The "xenomorph" crouching on the ground wrote and backed away as he did so, not only writing down his home address and nearby famous buildings but even naming the members of his own squad.
Yi Mao, who had some knowledge of the cleanup mission files, held his head and said, "I know all those names. They're all on the commendation list. I even went to deliver condolence money on behalf of my family..."
The impact on the group was considerable. Wan Xiao quickly said, "No, no, no. Why do the people in Clown City look like xenomorphs through the glasses? Is the equipment malfunctioning?"
"This is clearly not an equipment issue." Xu Huo added a comment from the side and gave a reasonable explanation for the moment. "Perhaps it's because he was judged as a xenomorph after being infected."
Hearing this, their shaky convictions barely stabilized. Yi Mao slapped his forehead. "Right, that must be it. The equipment can't be wrong!"
After saying this, he kept his distance and asked Jin Dong, "You can't talk anymore?"
Mentioning this, Jin Dong's emotions fluctuated. "The water and anything edible in the Cleanup Zone are all poisoned. My companions and I all went mute on the way back while escaping."
Yi Mao sighed, lamenting the premature deaths of the soldiers, then comforted him, "You're lucky you haven't fully degenerated into a xenomorph. If you come back to Clown City with us, there might still be a cure."
"It's impossible to go back!" Jin Dong wrote frantically on the ground. "Once you leave Clown City, you can never go back!"
"What does that mean?" Liang Song asked after reading it.
"Everyone who leaves the city is an abandoned pawn..." Jin Dong wrote hastily, but there wasn't much space to work with, so Xu Huo lent him his communicator. A holographic projection appeared in the air, and he quickly typed: "Clown City won't let infected people back into the city. After I and my two remaining teammates escaped to the Gobi zone, we were shot at before we even got close to the protective wall. It wasn't anyone else—it was the Clown City wall-guarding players!"
"After my two companions were killed, I fled to the swamp zone. Only later did I figure it out. Aren't you guys wondering why they don't let high-level players handle the cleanup missions? They have such powerful items—how easy would it be to kill xenomorphs!"
"The only reason is that they don't dare to come. This is a contaminated zone. Anyone who comes in will eventually get infected with the bacteria and slowly degenerate into a xenomorph. People with connections and power, as well as higher-level players, are all important resources for Clown City. They can't come to the Cleanup Zone, so only us bottom-feeders have to be sacrificed!"
"In the past, there were soldiers who went back alive and received rewards, but who has ever seen them since?!"
Yi Mao said with difficulty, "They moved up to the next level. And there were also soldiers who participated in cleanup missions a second time."
"Were they really participating in a second cleanup mission?" Jin Dong countered. "Do you know them personally? Do you know their background?"
Yi Mao had no answer to that. The mortality rate for cleanup missions was too high, and the participants, aside from those who volunteered, were all selected from eligible people across the city. It wasn't strange not to know them.
"You can't accuse the wall-guarding players just because you've degenerated into a xenomorph." Yue Weiping spoke up at this point. "I have indeed seen soldiers who returned from the Cleanup Zone, and they're still alive and well today."
He then said to Liang Song, "We can put the mission on hold for now. Let's send this person back first. We can't just stand by and let him die."
That was one reason, of course. Another reason, which everyone present knew in their hearts, was that Jin Dong's words had shaken them. Only by verifying the truth could they continue with the cleanup mission.
Liang Song hesitated and didn't agree. At that moment, Xu Huo tossed the pouch from his waist to the ground. "Going back now would be suicide."
"The culprit behind the attack we suffered in the Gobi zone earlier was this."
"A camouflaged armed flying vehicle."
"There's a serial number on it. You can check if it's a weapon produced by Clown City."
Yi Mao pulled out the metal shard with the serial number, his shoulders slumping. "Why is this happening?"
"This is impossible!" Yue Weiping said. "Even if what Jin Dong says is true, we just left the city. Why would they want to kill us?"
"I wouldn't know. Maybe the person in charge of the cleanup mission has other ideas." Xu Huo finished speaking and looked at Jin Dong. "I've seen relevant information about the bacteria on you before. It's just an ordinary hallucinogenic bacteria. It won't be life-threatening."
Jin Dong was stunned for a moment, then quickly caught on. "I haven't degenerated into a xenomorph!"
"That's not necessarily true." Xu Huo said. "Maybe you're just temporarily retaining your humanity."
"I still can't believe it!" Yue Weiping raised his voice. "If every soldier who leaves eventually gets infected and becomes a xenomorph, what's the point of Clown City doing this? The xenomorphs will never be wiped out!"
"The one that attacked us was undoubtedly a Clown City firearm." Liang Song spoke up at this point. "I noticed the sound of the flying vehicle back in the Gobi zone. If it hadn't been for the sudden sandstorm, we could have shot it down then."
Saying this, he glanced at Xu Huo. "You're not an E-level player either, are you?"
"D-level." Xu Huo paused, then added, "Since a flying vehicle can leave the city to kill its own people, then there shouldn't be any claim about high-frequency sounds alarming the xenomorphs. Or rather, the people on the wall don't care whether the cleanup team lives or dies. Either way, turning back is definitely not an option."
Yi Mao swallowed hard. "Maybe if we don't eat anything from the Cleanup Zone and don't drink the water here, we won't get infected..."
Before he could finish, everyone realized another issue: why so few D-level players participated in cleanup missions. D-level players had luggage compartments to store food and water. Quite a few D-level players had signed up, but even fewer actually joined.
"If we don't consume food and water from the Cleanup Zone, we won't get infected. Is this cutting off our lifeline?" Yi Mao said. "Could it be that the cleanup mission is actually meant to cultivate xenomorphs?"
The group's expressions shifted several times. Finally, Yue Weiping pointed at Jin Dong and said through gritted teeth, "So what do we do now!"
"I've seen people who went back alive. Now we have to focus on completing the mission and making sure we don't get infected. Only then can we possibly go back."
Yi Mao and Wan Xiao kept their heads down and said nothing. Liang Song also frowned deeply. Yue Weiping glanced at them and added, "We have to turn a blind eye to this. Only by going back alive can we have the right to talk about anything else!"